Apple's latest announcement hints that we could be in for an action-packed event next week

A few days before Apple hosts thousands of developers in San Jose, California, the company gave them a reason to make apps for iPhones and iPads.

Actually, 70 billion reasons.

Apple said on Thursday that developer earnings from the App Store were over $70 billion since it launched in 2008.

Given that Apple takes about 30% of sales through its App Store, that suggests Apple's App Store has sold about $100 billion worth of software in its history.

The message to iPhone developers is that Apple's platform is healthy, thriving, and presents an opportunity to start and grow a business.

The announcement also gets out of the way several smaller, incremental announcements that Apple may have been planning to make at its annual developers conference, which starts on Monday, possibly making more time for product launches and other cool reveals. Rumors suggest that Apple may launch new laptops and iPads next week.

Apple also said that over the past year, downloads increased over 70%. Certain categories of apps, such as photo and video, grew even faster — by nearly 90% during the same period.

Apple has recently tweaked the App Store to make it more friendly to developers, letting them respond to negative reviews directly, for example, and cutting Apple's share of sales if the app is sold through a subscription. The company said active paid subscriptions had increased 58% year over year.

One thing Apple hasn't revealed is how many devices it has in use. Its latest stat, in early 2016, was 1 billion. These numbers for Apple's App Store platform are impressive, but they may mirror more iPhones in use, rather than additional apps or sales per user.